Flirting with 14,000: Lepley talks stocks as Dow neared milestone

As the Dow Jones industrial average neared the 14,000 mark earlier this week, the possible milestone was is receiving some attention in the financial and news media realms. Wisconsin Public Radio reporter Patty Murray turned to Associate Finance Prof. Bill Lepley, who offered some context on the figure. “Let’s put it this way: There are some people who probably got really, really scared, quite rightfully, and got out of stocks in 2008, maybe 2009,” Lepley said. “And they might be kicking themselves right now because if they hung in there they’d probably have done pretty well, depending on which particular stocks they had stayed in.” Lepley went on to say that despite current indicators, nothing on Wall Street is certain. “It’s just a measurement, or giving us a measurement of expectations,” he said. “Expectations are not always realized. Six months from now, who knows?” Full story.